The Great Green Wall is a major African-led initiative with the bold ambition to restore the productivity and vitality of the Sahel region, whilst ‘growing solutions’ to the continent’s most urgent development challenges.
Spanning the entire width of Africa – 7 775km from Senegal to Djibouti – the “wall” consists of a mosaic of projects implemented by countries in the region with the support of development partners, including the UNCCD.
The initiative is about far more than just growing trees. It has a clear vision to:
Grow climate resilience for local communities in a region set to be hit by a 3-5 degree temperature rise by 2050
Grow food security for the 20 million people in the Sahel that go hungry every year
Grow ‘green’ jobs to provide stable incomes for African women and youth
Grow a global response to the migration crisis, with 60 million people set to migrate to Europe from degraded parts of Africa by 2020
Grow peace and security in the Sahel, where conflict has displaced 2.8 million people this year alone
Facts and Figures
Since its launch in 2008, major progress has been made in restoring the fertility of Sahelian lands. Key examples include:
Ethiopia: 15 million hectares of degraded land restored. Land tenure security improved
Senegal: 11.4 million trees planted. 25 000 hectares of degraded land restored
Nigeria: 5 million hectares of degraded land restored. 20 000 jobs created
Sudan: 2 000 hectares of land restored
